A Low Impact House Project

Building plans for our home with a small eco footprint and a “work where you live” philosophy, is the result of 20 years of research. 

The house design is shaped by the principles of Feng Shui, passive solar and natural building. When finished, we’ll have a fully functioning off-grid, furnished four-season cottage. We strive for the most sustainable, non-polluting, low-maintenance and long-lasting, tried and true building solutions within our reach. Since we are doing the majority of the work ourselves, this comfortable owner-built home will cost a small fraction of what a conventional home of comparable size would be.

Balsamholz

Our eco-friendly home is named for the salvaged balsam fir logs cleared from the building site and around the property where thinning was needed. The versatile balsam logs are used in the roofing system, timber framing and in the cordwood walls. The building consists of a slab-on-grade foundation, or floating slab, timber frame, and a low-maintenance, earth-roof. Floors will be earthen. The home will be heated by a highly efficient masonry stove that sits in the centre. A nice combination of energy efficient features, built primarily with hand tools, combine to achieve our goal – a cozy, low-maintenance woodland retreat surrounded by food forest gardens, nature trails, camp sites and some day, a sauna by the river.

I’ll be sharing updates here regularly, once we get back into building season. If you like what we’re doing, here or any of our other projects, let us know. Our goals, by means of sharing these stories, are to inspire you to stretch your imagination a little further & twerk your curiosity just enough to leave you thinking about “living by moonlyte”.